Improvement in mtcie for spinning



N.FETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D C

.To all/whom 'it 'ma/y conce/rm.

iintmi $113125 parte eine.

ALBERTsTocKwELL, 0E rRovIEENcE RHODE ISLAND, AssIcNoR To oHARLEs W. e ,GREENE TRUsTEE,\A ND sAID GREENE, As TRUSTEE, AssreNs To ALBERT sTooK- WELL AND -WINSOR STONE.

Letters Patent No, 89,807, dated Ma/y 4,1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN MULE FOR SPINNING.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

Be it known that I, ALBERT S'TocKwELL, of the city and county of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Self-Operating Mules; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact'description thereof'. Figure 1 is aside elevation of so much of a self-operating mule as is necessary to show my improvement.

Figure 2 is a top view. Figure 3 is a partial end View..

A'self-operating mule employs an analogous process to 'that which is performed in spinning cotton upon the hand-spinning wheel.V I A Portions of yarn are forcibly stretched in the direction of their length, for the purpose of 'elongating and reducing those parts of the yarn which have a greater diameter and are 'less twisted than the other parts, so thatthe size and. twist of the` thread may be rendered uniform throughout. i

v To effect this process of stretching, the spindles are mounted upon a carriage, which is moved backward and forward across the ioor, receding from the lfeedrollers when the threads are to be stretched and spun,

and returning when the 'nshed threads are to be wound upon theforming-cop.

It is not proposed, in this speeiicatiom'to give afull description `of all the many parts which, in-almost infinite variety of combination, make up a complete self-operating mule, performing so many and so varions functions, 'as to justly entitle the organized appa ratus to take rank as first in the first class of machines. It will besuflicient, to enable the hereinafter=described improvement to be understood by builders of this class of machines, to state its relation to certain leading o erations which the mule performs.

After the carriage bearing the spindles has moved to its farthest extent, and the full twist-has been put into the yarn, a backing motion is given t the spin'- dles, to slacken the yarn, and then the yarn is, by the action of bars located in front of the spindles, and

technically known as the upper and under ,faller, causedjto drop from the tips of the spindles, and is guided while the carriage is running in, so as to be wound upon a cop, the spindle turning, during this time, in the same direction as when spinning, but no faster than to wind up the yarn propoltionably to the speed at which the carriage is running in.

Theyarn-cops are not intended to bel cylindrical in form, butare enlarged at the base, which is built up first, and are constant-ly increasing in sizeas they form, 'so that the required number of turns to be given to the spindles, to wind up the stretch of spun yarn, is constantly 'valying In addition to. this,v4 atmospheric induence affects, somewhat, the yarn', so that in a'moist air it will contract more while windingthan ina clear, dry atmosphere. 1

'Ihe means for giving the requisite number of turns to the spindles, proportionably to the size of the cop, in winding up the yarn, consist, in the bestkind of mules, of a vibrating lever, which'vibrates with the movement of the carriage, and to which one end of a chain is attached, the slack of such chain being wound around a drum, whose revolutionl gives the movement to the spindles. The greater the number ofthe turns which this chain makes. about the drum, the greater will be the Vnumber cf revolutions which the spindle will make, because the effect of the carriage running in, is `to unwind the chain by revolving the drum.

, The can'iagehas-always the same extent of travel, and consequently the number of times which the chain shall wind about the drum, can be lessened only by'.

making the point of attachment. of the chain variable upon the vibrating lever,.so that the length of chain to be unwoundshall be al differential quantity, and

' equal to the space travelled over by the carriage, less Athe space through which 4the fixed end of the chain moves, by reason of the vibration, in the same direction, of the lever to which it is attached.

The point between the two extremes of the lever at whichtheychain operating the drum which turns the spindles shall beattached, is m'ade variable by means of a screw-rod set lengthwise with the lever, which, as it is turned, moves along its length, a nut having a ring, intowhich thefchain is hooked.

The present improvement has reference to a means for enabling the mules toautomatically reduce the number of revolutions `of thespindle while windingl up thev spun yarn, in the'event that, from any exceptional cause, an undue strain is brought upon the yarn.

The drawings represent only such. parts of a selfoperating mule as are necessaryvto be shown 'to make the invention intelligible.

A represents the carriage upon which the' spindles are mounted, and around a drum which it carries, (not shown,) the chain'A is wound. B, the vibrating lever, with its quadrant, B;

O, the'screw-r'od;

D, the nut thereon, to which one end of the chain is attached; and

a a, the two fallers, all as usually constructed.

The fallers a a are connected by means of a band, b, with a lever, E, pivoted to the carriage at c, and when the strain upon the yarn is in excess of what is proper,

the fallers will be borne downward, and the lever E,

in consequence, be depressed.

F isatilting-bar, extending the length of the frame of the mule, and connecting two short arms, d d', iig.

2, which are pivoted to the frame at f.

A spring, g, iig. 1, sustains the bar F at any determined point of elevation. This'bar F, when tilted, will set in motion the screw-rod C, and thereby shiit the position ofthe nut D. rlhis is accomplished by means of a system of levers, h h', fig. 3, the former of which projects downward 'from the bar F, and the latter is hinged to the standard of the frame at t, and has its lower end forked, so as to embrace the hub Gr of a loose pulley H, which has a clutch-face, fitted to engage with a corresponding clutch-face upon the gearwheel I, when the two are brought into connection.

The tilting of the bar F will cause thepulley H to be slid along the. stud-shaft E', and communicate its rotary movement to the gear I, which runs loose upon the same shaft.

The pulley H is made to rotate, in this instance, by means of the band K passing around it, and another pulley, to which latter motion is given by the teeth upon the moving quadrant B, setting in motion the gear-wheel J, fig. l, upon the same shaft with such pulley.

The toothed gear I imparts motion to the toothed gear K, igs. 1 and 2, thereby causing the shaft K' to revolve, and, in consequence, the bevel-gear K2, keyed to theopposite end of such shaft, engaging with afellow bevel-gear, K3, upon the foot of theserew-rod 0, causes such rod to be turned in its bearing, and alter the position of the nut thereon.

The undue depression of the fallers a a is made to operate upon the tilting-bar F, at any point in the movement of the carriage, when the occasion arises, by means of the linkL, tig. 1, one end ofwhich is pivoted to the weighted lever E at Z, the other end being furnished with a pin, or lip, m, projecting from its side, and overhanging the top edge of the bar F, a guide, n, through which such link passes, sustaining the link in a perpendicular position.

So long as the fallers a. a are in their proper position, the projecting lip m ofthe link L will stand clear of the bar, but upon the fallers becoming depressed, the lever E, dropping to a lower position, will cause the link L to tilt the bar F, whereupon the results before explained will follow.

The apparatus above described, for enabling an exceptional excess of strain upon the yarn to automatically reduce the number of revolutions which the spinilles shall make in winding up the spun yarn, is, in addition to the ordinary mechanism for producing a like result, to compensate for the change in the size and form ofthe cop, employed in self-operating mules, with which constructors of this class of machinery are familiar.

Other devices, to accomplish the same result, have been contrived, but all with which I am acquainted .are not, like the one which I have described, absolutely Y. certain and positive in their operation.

For example, an apparatus is shown in the drawings attached to Kay, Hartley, and Mallinsons English patent of October 25, 1860, No. 2,602, which consists of a level' of the rst order, with its fulcrum located at or near the end of the path of travel of the carriage, and soA arranged that upon the undue depression of the lallers, a weight will act upon the longer arm of the lever, and bearing it down, cause the shorter arm of the lever to close a clutch-box, and thereby .effect the shiftingof the point of attachment of the chain upon the quadrant-lever.

This apparatus is obviously incapable of acting upon the application of the same degree of pressure upon lthe lever at all points at which the carriage may be,

but the power required to operate the lever is a constantly-varying quantity, and will increase as the carriage approaches the fulerum of the lever, and'diminish as it recedes from it. The distance, too, through which the weight must move to operate the lever to close the clutch, varies with the positions of the ear-` riage. c

While I shall not, therefore, lay claim broadly to the mode of operation which the apparatus exhibits, Ido,`

vof the cop has been formed, when the remaining por- Y tion of the cop to be completed is nearly cylindrical.

It consists of a wire, or small-sized rod, bent so as to form a shaft, o, with two arms, p p', as shown in blue, partly at fig. 1, and partly at fig. 2.

The portion o, forming the shaft, is suitably held in bearings, and the two arms p p are nearly at iight angies with each other.

When the horizontal arm p is elevated, the perpendicular arm p is thrown backward, so as not to interfere at all -wth the levers h h', controlling the clutchgear before described.

When, on the contrary, the horizontal arm gp is depressed, as shown in red outline, the perpendicular arm p will so stand that its bent end q will block the movementY of the lever h', and prevent the bar F from tiltin Thi end ofthe arm p rests on a supporting-Mock, which is pivoted, at its base, to the cop-shaping mechanism M, and is'held upright by a spring, and such supporting-block can be so adjusted that when the base of the cop has beenvcompleted, and there 'is no longer any occasion for enabling the tilting-bar to act, the next movement of the carriage, in running out, will, in the exercise of its ordinary function of turning the screw N a prescribed distance, to shorten the chain to allow for the increase of thel size of the bobbin, cause the supporting-block lr to be moved beyond the end of the arm p, whereupon the arm Will fall, and,

as before described, the levers h h will be blocked.

To start a new cop, the operator turns backward theA screw N, as usual, and the block r being hung upona pivot, and held upright by a yielding spring, the parts readj ust themselves, and the end ofthe lever p is again raised as before.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1 The combination ofthe spindle-bearing carriages A, with the mechanism for shifting the pointl of attachment ofthe spindle-driving chain A', to the quadrant-lever B,'by means of the yielding bar F, or its equivalent, and a suitable lever-connection, E L, for

operating the same, substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

2. The combination of the cop-shaping mechanism with the levers h h', or equivalent devices, for putting into action the hereinbefore-described mechanism, which shifts the point of attachment of the spindledriving chain to the quadrant-lever, and with the vibrating levers p p', and the yielding supporting-block 1', substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

. ALBERT STOCKWELL.

Witnesses Oms. W. GREENE, WINson STONE. 

